Paprika is a spice — sometimes mild and sweet and sometimes hot and spicy — used especially in Eastern European and subcontinent cooking. My blog, Paprika Prose, and my work under the name, Lisa Argrette Ahmad, is a nod to my continuing quest through my stories for a marriage as melodious as it is multicultural.
I am happy to share my published stories, and excerpts of unpublished stories, with you. Some are funny and others are painfully raw and sad. But each is personal and unique to my experience in marriage. Each reflects my individual insight and growth over time.
Excerpts which I share on this blog however, may read as angry rants or melancholy reflections with you as the reader not necessarily privy to my complete story’s humble revelations, personal resolutions or universal truths. It is my intent that the excerpts deliver a powerful punch or elicit a poignant pause. While provocative, I hope that at the same time readers find the excerpts compelling, that they recognize themselves in my characters and that any commentary is productive in the current dynamic exchange around identity and culture.
I want to share my personal story because its subject matter is so timely. As a nation having just elected our first African-American president, we are eager to discuss our awareness and curiosity of identity and culture. As individuals, we are more comfortable than ever with the notion of a global community and multiculturalism. Yet we continue to struggle with issues of race and religion, immigration and language, and terrorism. Each of these issues challenge how we define ourselves and others and turn on its head the assumptions and expectations we each bring to our primary relationships.
Perhaps most importantly, I want to share my personal story because its subject matter passes the supermarket line test. That is, when standing in the check out line at the local Stop & Shop, I can easily engage a neighbor or the clerk in a conversation about intercultural relationships. So many people these days have a story to share of an intercultural relationship and how the couples have navigated successfully or not so successfully, the challenges of marriage and family given their cultural differences.
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